Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Ugly United Nations

With eyes on the United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York this week, Tablet Magazine takes a look at how the U.N. has treated Israel during the years. In a word--badly.

Quoting U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee responsible for the Middle East, Israel is the "perennial punching bag" at the United Nations.

The magazine cites 4 examples of bigotry and hatred against Israel at the international body.

1: In 1975, the U.N. adopted a resolution claiming "Zionism is racism," the first time it had ever declared one form of nationalism as racist. The U.N. repealed the resolution in 1991, but it remains a stain.

2: Twenty percent of U.N. member states do not accept Israel's right to exist. In 2012, the General Assembly passed 22 resolutions condemning Israel, and only 4 against other countries.

3: The U.N. Human Rights Council, made up of some of the world's

worst human rights abusers, condemns Israel at its meetings.

4: Israel has historically been excluded from all regional groups. Thirteen years ago, Israel was finally admitted to one such group, after it was rejected by the Arab states from joining a regional caucus.

A profile of Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the U.N., in Tablet revealed his strategy for dealing with all the anti-Israel sentiment: a sense of humor.

As the General Assembly opened this week, Prosor gave his reaction to the news Syria and Iran had announced their candidacies for the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"Putting Iran and Syria on a Human Rights Council is like putting the Godfather in charge of a witness-protection program,” he said.